Voters’ Anger Over Shutdown Is Inspiring Democrats to Run

From The New York Times:

[N]ationally, the Democratic Party is enjoying something of a boomlet in newly declared candidacies for the House. Since Oct. 1, five candidates [in Nebraska] have lined up to contest Republican-held seats, with at least four more in the wings, Democratic officials say. Almost all say they are driven to run — ostensibly, at least — by disgust over the shutdown, first espoused by Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and embraced by Tea Party Republicans in the House and, eventually, most others as well.

Nonetheless, most of the Republicans viewed as most vulnerable are moderates, not those who pushed for the shutdown.

 

But political analysts say he and other Republicans still may have two things going for them: One, next year’s elections are midterms, when the party in the White House usually suffers losses and voter turnout is reliably low. And two: Even the experts cannot predict how angry voters will express themselves.
 

“This is a screwed-up situation,” said Tom King, a consultant working for the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia in next week’s election. “When this happens, ‘throw the bums out’ either becomes ‘throw everyone out,’ or ‘throw one party out.’ ”
 

Which is more likely? “Look at the results two weeks from now,” he said, referring to Election Day, “and you’ll get a better idea of how this is breaking.”